Structural policy

Structural policy affects economic structures and the choices made by households and businesses. Structural policy measures influence the length of working careers and are aimed at increasing the labour supply and productivity. Measures can also affect, among other things, taxation, social security, the pension system, labour policy, regulations impacting the operating environment for businesses, and the reform of public services and administration. Structural policy affects the economy in the long term.

Structural policy reforms can influence the sustainability of public finances, thereby reducing the need for direct adjustment of revenue and expenditure. Employment-increasing reforms, by which benefit recipients become taxpayers, are the best means of improving the sustainability of public finances. They simultaneously impact both general government revenue and expenditure.

Increasing the productivity of public services directly reduces public spending. Improved productivity of public services at the same time effectively reduces the sustainability gap, if this improvement is expressed as a cost saving, not as an improvement of service quality.

In its Structural Policy Programme (29 August 2013), the Government adopted measures aimed at strengthening conditions for economic growth and bridging the sustainability gap. The programme’s goal is a substantial reform of the service structures of society.